Week #18, Sept 20, 2018

This week’s winter squash

Almost everyone gets one or two acorn squash this week. One site gets Sunshine and another gets Butterscotch. All are cured and ready to eat.

A wooden bin of Carnival squash

Acorn squash (Carnival, Festival this week) – These are distractingly beautiful, with stripes and patterns in yellow, green, orange and white. We used to grow all-green acorn squash but stopped because we think the newer striped varieties taste better and are the plants are more vigorous.Preparation: Acorn squash have a central cavity perfect for stuffing. Prepare your favorite fully-cooked stuffing, e.g. a rice or quinoa mixture. Roast your squash as described below. Preheat the stuffing. Fill the cooked squash with stuffing, top with grated cheese and return to the oven until everything is hot.

Butterscotch

Butterscotch butternut – These small (tiny?) squash are incredibly sweet and flavorful. We grew them as a test this year. We love the flavor, but are ambivalent about how small these ‘personal size’ squash are. Preparation: Roast and eat with salt and pepper. They don’t need any embellishment.

Sunshine

Sunshine – Bright orange Sunshine have a mild, sweet flavor reminiscent of chestnuts. The skins are tender and edible. We find that Sunshine do not store well, because of the thin skins. Eat these soon.Preparation: (i) Dry roasting brings out Sunshine’s delicate flavor. Cut into thick slices, toss with olive oil, and roast on a well-oiled cookie sheet at 425 oF until soft. The slices will fall apart if you overcook them but you have a fairly wide window to get them out of the oven successfully. Make sure to roast them until the cut surfaces are caramelized. Season with salt after they are out of the oven. Excellent with a yogurt-garlic-olive oil dip.
(ii) Sunshine have a central cavity amenable to stuffing. See acorn squash above.

Winter Squash Primer

This year’s winter squash crop is excellent. The dry spell was perfectly timed to bring in the squash without damage. We should have enough for a steady supply of squash or sweet potatoes over the coming weeks.

Expected life: Some winter squash varieties are ready to eat soon after harvest, others store deep into winter. This week’s varieties are cured and ready to eat. Plan to eat these early varieties within two to four weeks, on the shorter side for the kabocha.

Storage: Winter squash store best at room temperature with good air circulation. No cooler than 50 degrees. On your kitchen counter works. Do not cover.

To make squash easier to cut: Microwave on high for 30 to 60 seconds, depending on size of the squash. This will soften the rind and flesh, making it much easier to cut.

Beth’s favorite simple preparation (acorn or butternut): Winter squash are easily roasted in a 400F oven.
– Split in half with a sharp knife.
– Scoop out and discard seeds.
– Run the squash briefly under running water, then shake off the excess water. Place cavity-side-down on an oiled baking sheet. The little bit of moisture seals the squash to your roasting pan. The water soon evaporates, allowing the squash to brown and caramelize. Caramelization really boosts the flavor.
– Roast at 400F until easily pierced with a fork, 30 – 45 minutes depending on size. Flip over while hot. Add a little butter to melt and some seasoned salt. Cut into wedges and eat.

Can you eat the rind? Kabocha rind is thin and edible. Rinds for acorns and butternuts are thicker. It’s your choice whether to eat them or not. Steve eats them. I don’t.

RECIPES FROM LAUREN

SLOW COOKER CARAMELIZED PORK RAMEN WITH CURRY ROASTED VEGETABLES
Adapted from Half Baked HarvestIf you aren’t a person who loves big, bold flavors, well then this recipe may not be for you. Ramen like this is certainly not for the faint of heart. It has a lot of spice, a lot of salt, and a lot of richness. It is also incredible. But if flavors that big aren’t you thing, well then maybe just make the slow cooker pork and make the roasted vegetables and eat them sans noodles and sans broth. The broth is where the big, bold flavors are hidden. Lauren.

Serves 8-10.
Takes a long time (because slow cooker), but I recommend estimating about an hour of active cooking time + 4 (or more) hours in the slow cooker.

Get your slow cooker going. Add the pork roast to the center. Cut onion in half. Set aside one half to thinly slice just before serving. Dice other half onion and nestle around pork in slow cooker along with peppers.

Cover the slow cooker and cook on high for 4-6 hours or low for 6-8 hours. If you have more time than that, just turn it to keep warm after the initial 8 hours. I tend to do the first cooking over night and then leave it on low all day while I’m at work. Extra steeping won’t hurt you here, I promise.

About an hour before you are ready to serve your ramen, preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

While that roasts, and once the pork is finished cooking, remove from slow cooker. Remove any bones and shred with two forks. Add ramen noodles and cook on high for 12 minutes. Once finished, add back half the shredded pork and reduce heat to “keep warm” setting.

In a large skillet, heat sesame oil over medium heat. Add other half shredded pork followed by the remaining brown sugar (1 tablespoons), soy sauce (2 tablespoons) and rice wine vinegar (2 tablespoons). Cook for 10 minutes, stirring every couple minutes so the bottom layer of pork gets crispy and almost caramelized.

.BROCCOLI & KALE SALAD WITH FRIED ONIONS & PEANUTSThe two recipes this week really pair wonderfully together using several similar ingredients so use this week’s box as an excuse to go out a buy bottles of rice wine vinegar and higher quality fish sauce! Lauren.

In a large skillet heat 2 inches of vegetable oil over medium high heat.

While the oil warms, prepare your onions. In a small bowl, toss onion with flour and salt until well coated.

Once oil is just starting to glisten, it is at the right temperature. Add half the onions and use a fork to make sure all the onions are submerged. Fry until golden brown, about 4-5 minutes. Drain on paper towels. Fry second half of onions and drain as before. Leave onions while you prepare your salad.

Cut your broccoli by removing 3-4 inches of the stem and then cutting the head in half. Slice the head thinly so you end up with long, elegant pieces of broccoli. Place in large bowl with the kale.

In a small bowl, combine peanut oil, vinegar, brown sugar and fish sauce. Whisk until smooth. Pour over vegetables and massage until uniform and well-coated.

Serve salads with fried onions, peanuts and red pepper flakes. Taste and season with salt and pepper as desired. If eating part of the salad later, store separate from peanuts and fried onions so they don’t lose their crunch.

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